Hasselbeck can make everything good again

A month ago, for that matter eight days ago, tonight's game felt like a gimme. Just another canine on a "Monday Night Football" lineup that, too often this season, has felt like so many nights at the Westminster Kennel Club.

A month ago, this game with Green Bay looked like another cakewalk on the way to the NFC West title, another sure thing on the pudding-soft Seahawks' schedule.

But that was before Matt Hasselbeck got hurt. And it was before the defense's tackling lapses. It was before Sean Locklear's lingering injury. And Robbie Tobeck's sick hip. And before the Seahawks' inexplicable ho-hum first half in their loss at San Francisco eight days ago.

Now the Pack is back in Seattle. Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre is healthy enough to start one more in a series of last games against his former mentor, Seattle coach Mike Holmgren. And, for the Seahawks, this is a show-me game.

Now the Hawks find themselves in the same position they were a week ago. Win tonight and they will have a two-game lead in the NFC West.

The postseason that seemed assured since the first day of training camp nearly will be guaranteed.

Tonight, after missing 4 ½ games with a right knee sprain, quarterback Hasselbeck returns. And he is expected to make everything good again.

With apologies to Dallas wunderkind Tony Romo, Hasselbeck is the best quarterback in the NFC. He is the master of the 80-yard drive. He is the reason the Hawks can control the clock and wear out defenses like water dripping on a stone.

With Hasselbeck last season, the Hawks were able to stitch together 20 drives of 80 or more yards. This season, they have managed only five 80-plus-yard drives.

With Hasselbeck at quarterback, the Hawks' defense, built for speed, not size, was able to get great gulps of rest.

This season, the defense has been on the field too long. It has worn down. It has missed tackle after tackle after tackle. And with each missed tackle, its confidence has eroded.

"We need to regain our swagger a little bit," Holmgren said during preparations for this game with Green Bay.

Re-enter Hasselbeck.

This is his team, and the direction and success of this Seattle season will be determined by the decisions he makes and the plays he completes.

It isn't fair, but Hasselbeck doesn't have the luxury of easing back into the workplace. He has to be rust-free from the first snap. Even though he missed all of the midseason, he has to be in midseason form.

Even with a patchwork quilt of an offensive line, Hasselbeck has to be very good, very quickly. He has to return tempo to the offense. This supremely confident team leader has to bring back the championship swagger.

He not only has to be good, he has to be better than he was before he got hurt. He has to be the Matt Hasselbeck of last season, from the first series of this game through the end of the season.

If Hasselbeck is good, the Seahawks still can be good. If he can complete the third-down money passes like he did last season, he can rally the Hawks out of the funk that has infected them for large chunks of this year.

"We've been inconsistent," Holmgren said. "I think I know how they're capable of playing."

The optimists look at this season and see a team that still hasn't played its best football. They believe Hasselbeck and new receiver Deion Branch just were beginning to find their groove when the quarterback got hurt.

Optimists look at the schedule and assume that by the time San Diego comes to Qwest Field on Christmas Eve it will have clinched the AFC West and will be resting many of its regulars.

Optimists see only one more loss, next Sunday night in Denver. They see an 11-5 season and homefield for at least one playoff game.

They see Romo returning to earth and Chicago's Rex Grossman self-destructing in January. They see another trip to the Super Bowl as real as winter rain.

But the Hawks haven't played like a Super Bowl team. Haven't tackled like a Super Bowl team. Haven't had the fire that Super Bowl teams have.

Can one player change all of that?

Every bet wagered on a return trip to the Super Bowl is hedged on Hasselbeck. It's a lot to ask of one man with one gimpy knee. But it is the reality of this six-week stretch drive.

His return makes Monday night big again. Because the march to February begins only if Hasselbeck looks sharp tonight and the offense rolls as inexorably as it did last season.

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com.